Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is a colorful blazing fury of fisticuffs that spins the infamous Hong Kong landmark into an entertaining pop art mythology.
Director Soi Cheang, cinematographer Cheng Siu Keung, and production designer Kenneth Mak strike the perfect tone, crossing Hong Kong nostalgia with a wuxia comic book aesthetic.
The story chronicles the rise of Chan Lok-Kwan, an illegal immigrant and bare-knuckle boxer surviving on the streets of 1980's Hong Kong. Getting in trouble with local gangster Mr. Big, Chan finds refuge in the Kowloon Walled City, a lawless territory outside of British Hong Kong, and is taken in by gang boss Tornado and his underlings.
The British Government announcing the demolishing of the Walled City ignites a gangland war, settling personal vendettas and seizing the Walled City.
Kenji Tanigaki's inventive fight choreography is fluid and powerful, slightly exaggerating the character's comic book fighting abilities just right.
The Kowloon Walled City set is exquisitely detailed, keeping with Soi Cheang's trademark of arranging garbage into intricately beautiful backdrops.
The set design and fight choreography are well integrated and tell the story visually, with the characters scurrying through the cement crevices, alleyways, and scaffolding.
Raymond Lam, largely known as a TV actor, shines in an iconic movie role and establishes himself as a solid action lead. As Tornado, Louis Koo gives solid support, building a memorable character separate from the star persona created from ubiquitous film appearances. Richie Jen's mob boss is the weakest link, lacking grit and veering into dress-up pantomime territory. Phillip Ng steals the show as the crazy laughing villain King.
The one flaw is a gaping plot hole, an unexplained story contrivance of "how did that character know that?" The error wasn't obvious to me until after the film ended, but it hangs there like a jigsaw puzzle missing its last piece.
Walled In is no masterpiece, but a well-executed crowd-pleaser that has entered the zeitgeist at the exact moment for the audience.
In its quieter moments, Soi Cheang directs the audience's eyes toward the lives of the Walled City residents. Even though this is an exaggerated comic book film, it nostalgically refers to real history where people lived and struggled in these harsh conditions. This is the film's heart; it works in a "look how far we've come" way.
Locally, the film's been the talk of the town, and everybody I know has seen it, some even more than once. It achieves a classic status that Hong Kong people will remember fondly, like a Bruce Lee film.
